JPH0355848B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to data editors, and more particularly to techniques that facilitate a user's selection of graphic objects for editing. The present invention provides a method for combining two or more different objects.
It is particularly useful for multi-data editors characterized by a superblock structure containing sets, but it can also be usefully applied to special graphics editors and is not limited to multi-data editors. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Graphic editors are used to edit simple graphic data, such as simple graphs or charts, or complex graphic data, such as complex electrical, mechanical, or architectural drawings. Complex graphical data is often produced by computer aided design (CAD) equipment. CAD machines are similar to word processing machines, except that they handle graphic data rather than text data. The process of editing graphic data requires the user to select the data on the display screen that is to be edited. This generally involves moving a pointing cursor on the screen towards the desired graphical object by means of a pointing device such as a mouse, and moving the pointing cursor within a predetermined distance (hereinafter referred to as , also called the gravitational field)
, and then performs a selection designation operation such as pressing a mouse button, for example. [Problems to be Solved by the Invention] Although this method is a very straightforward method, it may force the user to perform difficult tasks. If the desired graphic object is close to another graphic object, the other graphic object may be selected by mistake. That is, when the user presses the selection button on the mouse with the intention of pointing to graphic object A, object B may be selected. In the case of complex graphical displays, the user may have to repeat the selection and deselection actions several times in a trial and error manner to make the correct selection. For example, in the case of a multiple data editor as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 156205/1980, two or more different sets of objects are arranged so that they overlap or touch each other.
Alternatively, they may be arranged to extend above or below each other. Object sets may be, for example, text, graphics, or tables, and similar problems arise in selecting graphical data for editing when compactly displaying a large number of object sets on a single page. What is needed is to provide the user with useful information to assist in selecting graphic data for editing. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for providing useful information to assist a user of a graphic data editor in selecting displayed graphic objects for editing. Another object of the invention is to provide a means for providing a user with useful information to assist in selecting graphic data for editing.
It is to give to the editor. Another object of the invention is to
Many different data sets, including
The object of the present invention is to provide a method that facilitates the selection of graphic objects from among a set of graphic data displayed on the same screen as another different set of data. [Means for Solving the Problems] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention allows a user to perform a selection designation operation on a display screen with an instruction cursor positioned within a predetermined distance from a graphic object. a method for facilitating the selection of a graphical object by performing a selection, the pointing cursor being within the predetermined distance with respect to the graphical object displayed on the display screen; In response to the fact that the designated action has not been performed, only a part of the graphic or object is highlighted. Highlighting the closest point in a graphic object is
For example, increase the brightness of the small dot that is the closest point, change the color of the dot, make the dot blink, display a small circle or other geometric shape at the dot's location, or It is done by combination. A highlighted point on a graphic object provides a clear visual indication that the graphic object will be selected when the user presses the selection button. Embodiment The pointing cursor used herein is an arrow or other suitably shaped cursor that can move freely around the display screen. The means for moving the pointing cursor may be a keyboard specially provided with cursor keys, but generally:
Preferably, it is a pointing device such as a mouse or a digitizing tablet. Both of these devices operate as relative position devices. For example, as a mouse moves around on a flat surface, the displayed pointing cursor moves in the direction the mouse moves; typically, the mouse is picked up from a flat surface and the displayed pointing cursor moves over a larger distance on the display screen. It can be advanced several times on a flat surface in the same normal position to make it move. If the displayed pointing cursor moves outside the display area, the display device is scrolled so that the pointing cursor always remains within the visible display area. A similar operation can also be performed with a digitizing tablet. The difference, however, is that in this case the handheld cursor (rather than the displayed pointing cursor) moves over the surface of the digitizing tablet to move the displayed pointing cursor. Mice and handheld cursors are typically provided with two or more buttons that can be easily pressed, such as by the index finger of the user's hand holding the mouse or similar device. Typically, one of these buttons is a selection button. A selection button, when pressed, indicates that the displayed object closest to the displayed pointing cursor is to be selected for a certain action. The instruction cursor is
It is used not only to select graphic objects for editing, but also to select icons representing commands in application programs. In accordance with the present invention, when a user moves a displayed pointing cursor around a graphic area on a display screen, to indicate to the user which graphic will be selected when a selection button is pressed,
Graphics within a specified distance of the instruction cursor
Only part of the object is highlighted. This is illustrated in FIG. 2, which shows an all-point addressable display screen on which several graphic objects are displayed. The screen display shown in FIG. 2 includes a circle 11, a rectangle 12, a triangle 13, and a polyline 14.
Point 15 of triangle 13 is highlighted to indicate that pointing cursor 16 is pointing to triangle 13 (within a predetermined distance). When the user presses the selection button, the entire graphical object, triangle 13 in this example, is highlighted to indicate the selection. You can also deselect selected graphic objects. This is done by moving the displayed pointing cursor away from the object and pressing the selection button again. When this is done, the graphic object is deselected and no longer highlighted. This feature increases the user friendliness of the graphic data editor. FIG. 3 shows the region of attraction 21 of the line segment 22. FIG. When the pointing cursor 23 is within the attractive region 21 of the line segment 22, the line segment 22 is considered to be pointed. FIG. 4 shows the region of attraction 31 of a triangle 32, which is the combination of the regions of attraction of the triangular line segments. Also shown in this figure is an attractive region expansion box 33. Since the pointing cursor 34 is within the attraction expansion box 33 of the triangle 32, the system considers whether the pointing cursor is pointing to the triangle 32. Since pointing cursor 34 is within the region of attraction of line segment 35 of triangle 32, cursor 34 is pointing to line segment 35. The point of line segment 35 closest to cursor 34 is the point that is highlighted. When one or more line segments are indicated by the pointing cursor, the point closest to the pointing cursor 34 is selected as the point to be highlighted and the corresponding object is selected. Tables 1 and 2 are pseudocodes used when specifically implementing the present invention. Pseudocode is written in a program design language (PDL) from which source code and object code are easily derived by those skilled in the programming arts. This description shows the logic of implementation. This pseudocode has been tested and found to work well. Performance speed is improved by storing the slope of each line segment of the graphical display in the system instead of calculating it on the fly. However, this requires large storage capacity. This example trades off storage requirements for speed. The procedure described below follows the following conventions. First, the attractive area extension of a graphic object is defined as the minimum size rectangle so that the graphic object can fit into the rectangle. The area of attraction of the graphic object is then defined as the area surrounding the graphic extension such that the distance is equal to a predetermined value (eg, 10 pixels). Third, if there is a line segment within a graphic object and the distance between the line and the current pointing cursor position is less than or equal to the predetermined gravity distance, then the object will be moved by the pointing cursor. be instructed. Table 1 below shows “Graphic Highlighting”
This is a PDL list for procedures.

TABLE FIG. 1A shows a graphical highlighting procedure. At the start of this flowchart, the operator is assumed to be editing the graphics space using a mouse to position the pointing cursor on the display. Control remains in this flowchart until the operator leaves the graphic space. At block 41, the indicated object and previous point are initialized to zero. At block 42, the current position of the pointing cursor is read and the closest point is calculated by calling the nearest point procedure. Next, in decision block 43, a test is performed on the results obtained by the nearest point procedure. If the current pointing cursor is pointing to a graphic object, that is, the pointing cursor is pointing to a graphic object.
If it is within the object's attraction area, block 4
At 4, a new point is set equal to the closest point obtained by the nearest point procedure. Decision block 45 then tests whether the previous point and the new point are the same. If they are not equal, decision block 46 tests whether the previous point has been determined. If the previous point has been determined, in block 47 the previous point is de-highlighted. In either case,
The IF statement in decision block 46 is complete. Then, at block 48, the new point is highlighted and the previous point is set equal to the new point. As a result, decision block 4
5 IF statement is completed. In decision block 43, the instruction cursor changes to
If it is determined that the object is not specified,
Decision block 49 tests whether the previous point has been determined. The previous point is determined,
If the previous point is implied to be the last highlighted point, block 50 de-highlights the previous point and sets the previous point to zero.
This completes the IF statement of decision block 49, which in turn completes the IF statement of decision block 43. A test is then performed at decision block 51 to determine whether the select button has been pressed at this point. If the select button is not pressed, the processing loop returns to block 42. Conversely, when the select button is pressed,
Decision block 52 tests whether the indicated object has been found. Once discovered, the entire graphical object is highlighted. In any event, the test IF statement in decision block 52 is complete and the flowchart is exited. Table 2 shows the results for the “nearest point” procedure.
This is a PDL list. A person skilled in the art can derive the source and object code from this list.

【table】

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above description, the present invention enables a user to select a graphic object by performing a selection designation operation with the instruction cursor positioned within a predetermined distance from the graphic object on the display screen. In the method of
Even if no selection operation is performed regarding the object, only a part of the graphic object is highlighted, so if the user performs a selection operation such as pressing a button in this state, the graphic object will be displayed. Since you can know in advance that the graphic object is selected and specified, if the graphic object is the desired one, you can simply perform the selection and specification operation, or if the graphic object is undesired, a part of the desired graphic object is It is only necessary to move the instruction cursor to the highlighted position before performing the selection designation operation. Therefore, erroneous selection designation actions and erroneous selection cancellation actions can be avoided, and it is easier for the user to select the graphic object. It becomes easier to choose.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a flowchart illustrating a graphical highlighting procedure that forms part of a preferred embodiment of the invention, and FIG. 1B is a flowchart illustrating a nearest point procedure that forms part of a preferred embodiment of the invention. , FIG. 2 is an illustration showing an all-points addressable display screen on which several graphical objects are displayed, and FIG.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the attractive area of a line segment and the relationship between the line segment and the pointing cursor. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the attractive area of a triangle and the relationship between the triangle and the pointing cursor. 16, 23, 34...Instruction cursor, 21, 3
1... Attraction area, 33... Attraction expansion box.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. To facilitate the selection of a graphic object by a user performing a selection designation operation while the instruction cursor is positioned within a predetermined distance from the graphic object on the display screen. The method comprises: in response to the pointing cursor being within the predetermined distance with respect to the graphic object displayed on the display screen and no selection designation operation being performed with respect to the graphic object; - A method for facilitating the selection of graphic objects characterized by highlighting only a part of the object. 2. Select the graphic object with only a portion of the graphic object highlighted.
2. A method for facilitating selection of a graphic object according to claim 1, further comprising highlighting the entire graphic object in response to a selection designation operation being performed on the object.